LifeScript headquarters is looking a whole lot lighter these days – 158 pounds lighter, in fact. In January, 13 employees volunteered for a Biggest Loser weight-loss contest. By the final weigh-in, 8 braved the scale.

The results:

1st place: Serbando Duran, with a total 44.2 lbs lost (21.68% of his starting weight).

2nd place: Jim Stock, with a weight loss of 36.9 lbs (14.24% of his starting weight).

3rd place: Brian Hogan, with a weight loss of 26.4 (14.16% of his starting weight).

LifeScript ladies weren’t too far off either:

Emily Battaglia lost 9.1% of her body weight.

Laura Gaffney lost 4.9% of her body weight.

So what drove the participants to kick in high-gear? While staffers are notoriously competitive, it was mostly tried and true dieting strategies that melted the pounds. Here’s their advice:

Serbando: “Everything seemed to point to eating lots of small meals to keep your metabolism going,” he says, which included eating fruit several times a day and cutting down his portion sizes – about 30% to 40%. Another motivator: “My wife supported me – I couldn’t have done it without her. She made salads for me for lunch.”

Jim:Jim turned to a low-carb diet. He cut out bread, pasta and every other type of carbohydrate (including his beloved cereal). And he curbed his alcohol intake considerably to 20 drinks in 90 days (one every 4.5 days, compared to the 20 drinks he was guzzling a week!) Jim also hit the treadmill or StairMaster three times a week, burning 1,000-1,200 calories each session.

Laura:Laura slimmed down by cutting back on dining out and started cooking at home! She also high-tailed it to boot camp every week and made sure to get enough sleep (to repair her body after all the military-style exercise!). “Just because the contest is over, doesn’t mean that my weight loss efforts end here,” Laura says. “I’ve developed some very good eating and exercise habits that will enable me to reach my goals.”

Brian:Brian credits his shrunken waistline to simple math: “Calories in is less than calories out.” His biggest challenge? Finding the time to work out with two young children at home. He ate smaller serving sizes and started running – a regimen he plans on maintaining. However, he plans on introducing bread back into his diet.

Emily:Already an avid soccer player, she amped up her exercise by hitting the gym more frequently. Emily also kicked her snacking habit and dined on Lean Cuisines every night. Her best advice: “You can’t think of it as a diet. You have to think of it as a lifestyle change,” she says. “Also, everything in moderation, and never deprive yourself when you just need to splurge.”

Keep tuning in for more on the weight-loss competition, updates, and more diet and fitness advice from our losers.